In a discussion that moved from portfolio architecture to manager selection and the practical realities of distribution, Love Nordström offered a detailed picture of a process shaped less by isolated fund performance than by fit, function and long-term usability within Swedbank’s advisory model.
Love describes Swedbank’s fund selection work as closely integrated with the bank’s monthly “Investeringsstrategi” (Investment Strategy), formed through strategic allocation, tactical allocation and product selection, rather than as a stand-alone product shelf.
The recommended fund range is built around a clear portfolio logic: each fund must have a defined role in the advice process, fit within the client’s risk budget and be capable of being used at scale across the bank. As Love Nordström puts it, the team first asks, “What can we use this fund for?” and “When does this fund come into play in the advice?”
The structure is organised almost as a hierarchy, or a tree, with broad core exposures forming the trunk and more specialised satellite strategies added further out. Core funds are those that best represent the market they are intended to cover, while small caps, country funds, sector strategies and more niche approaches are treated as satellites. This also means that a fund may be strong in isolation but still unsuitable if it distorts the intended exposure, is too narrow to be presented as a broad global fund or cannot be reconciled with Swedbank’s risk profiling.
Love Nordström is clear that Swedbank does not conduct institutional-style tenders with white-label mandates or guaranteed volumes. “We cannot promise any AUM,” he says. Instead, the team tends to look for funds with sufficient capacity to be used at scale, liquidity, operational robustness and a process that can be clearly explained.
Recent and ongoing searches include a growth-oriented European equity fund, a further Japan fund, European small caps and liquid hedge funds. One Japan search has already been completed, with a fund selected, while the European small-cap search was described as more or less in its final stage. For fund managers, the practical message is that Swedbank is looking for long-term, scalable and intelligible building blocks that can work inside its advisory model – not merely high-performing funds that look attractive on a stand-alone basis.
In a discussion that moved from portfolio architecture to manager selection and the practical realities of distribution, Love Nordström offered a detailed picture of a process shaped less by isolated fund performance than by fit, function and long-term usability within Swedbank’s advisory model.Love describes Swedbank’s fund selection work as closely integrated with the bank’s monthly “Investeringsstrategi” (Investment Strategy), formed through strategic allocation, tactical allocation and product selection, rather than as a stand-alone product shelf. The recommended fund range is built around a clear portfolio logic: each fund must have a defined role in the advice process, fit within the client’sIf you’re new to Tell Media Group, create an account.
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